How Do You Check a Doctor's Medical License?

Check a doctor's medical license by using the Doctorfinder app provided by the American Medical Association. Most state medical board websites also offer a medical license verification tool that often allows online users to check a doctor's license status by the physician's name or license number.

The AMA's Doctorfinder tool provides basic information about licensed physicians in the United States. Its database includes more than 814,000 AMA members and non-member doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathic medicine. It does not provide information about other healthcare professionals, such as dentists, nurses, optometrists and other health personnel.

The medical board or the Department of Health of most states also provides a license number verification tool. The search tool by the DOH of the state of New York allows online users to verify a physician's license status by the physician's name, while the Medical Board of California offers searches of license in several fields, including physicians and surgeons, midwives and registered dispensing opticians.